Community & Charity

At R&W we support our local communities through a combination of volunteering, charitable donations, sponsorship and charity days, often with our clients. We encourage our staff to engage with and support local causes and support activities that help us to collectively make a positive impact in our communities. Each month we present a “Community Award” to a member of staff (or a team) who has gone above and beyond the call of normal duty to make a difference.

We share the numerous messages of thanks we receive from members of the public in our corporate newsletters to celebrate the positive legacy and to motivate and inspire others to do the same.

“Everyone at James Hopkins sends the R&W Civil Engineering team a heartfelt thank you for generously donating your time, equipment and the materials needed to resurface our footpath here at Kites Corner.

To have our very own DIY SOS happen here was a dream come true. You have all been so professional and generous and are a credit to the construction industry and the company you all work for. Thank you so much for your hard work and for giving up your time and being such a good friend to James Hopkins Trust.

To also be blessed with having a member of your team donated to us to help us with maintenance tasks around our property has been priceless. Sean Higgins visits us every week for around 4 hours at a time. Sean has completed many jobs which we would have struggled to do ourselves unless he had been here. With Sean’s friendly smile and can do attitude we have been able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Sean is coming to help us out.

To put this into perspective, donation of Sean’s time is the equivalent of providing 12 desperately needed respite sessions for Gloucestershire’s young children who are life limited and life threatened.

All of the James Hopkin Trust team see Sean as a friend and look forward to his visits, he will always be welcome here and having him around has been an absolute pleasure for us all. Thank you so much to everyone at R&W Civil Engineering for coming into James Hopkins Trust and genuinely making a difference.”

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA) is our corporate charity.

For every near miss raised, we donate £1 to the charity. We also raise funds through staff activities and events such local running and walking events, cake sales and individual sponsored initiatives. To find out more about the great work that HIOWAA do, please visit their website here.

We welcome requests for help from our local communities, please contact us at marketing@cluster14731.extendcp.uk with information about your cause or charity and the assistance needed.

Recent community activities:

• Helping to improve a garden for Cheriton Primary School by providing and delivering wood, top soil and gravel; building new fences and seating; and greatly enhancing their outdoor play area.
• Resurfacing a footpath and providing regular garden maintenance for The James Hopkins Trust centre
• Donating traffic management equipment to Hatch Warren Lane Nursery to develop the construction section of the outside play area
• Raising over £1000 for HIOWAA – the R&W running team raised sponsorship for completion of the Eastleigh 10K run
• Supplying and delivering over 100 Christmas presents – via staff donations – for the Kids Out charity
• Raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Charity through the great R&W bake-off
• Donating used laptops to a secure computer hardware disposal scheme in Southampton, in support of Saint James’ Homeless Charity
• Sponsoring Sholing and Winsor United football teams.
• Providing traffic management services for the Great Dorset Steam Fair.
• Delivering a Christmas tree to Southampton town centre.
• Providing traffic management for the Woolston Christmas Market.
• Volunteering with Amey to clear Titchfield canal (a conservation area and bird sanctuary)
• Supplying the plant and materials to allow Fawley Cricket Club to build a concrete base for their new pavilion.

Considerate contractors:

We regularly hear from members of the public who have been unusually impressed by acts of consideration carried out independently by our team members. As a business, we are committed to making a positive impact wherever we work and we see this commitment brought to life by our operatives who work efficiently, effectively and with great consideration for their environment.

Here are just a few examples of feedback received:

“I wanted to write to you to tell you how impressed I was with one of your staff on your site on the Avenue in Southampton. I was walking home from work about 6pm last night, Thursday 6th August, and I noticed your site worker stop the temporary traffic lights to aid a blind man cross the road.

Your man had been busy on the other side and without anyone making him aware and without your man realising people were watching, he stopped the lights changing to help this blind chap cross. As you can imagine, the traffic was backed up both ways, but your man put this blind person’s needs above the impatience of the drivers. It really impressed me. I took a photo of your company name to write in and your man, I think was uncomfortable with me taking a photo, so I explained I wanted to write in about him and then asked his name. He told me he was called Lee. I assume you will know Lee – he acted as a true ambassador for your company and I hope you tell him I did write in to let you know.”

“We had the misfortune to breakdown yesterday on the M4 westbound between J18 and J19, pulling into the works area being run by yourselves. Within minutes, two of your employees, had pulled up behind us, making our party of 4 including two small children much safer. Their presence was most reassuring to us, and I would like to say that they are a credit to your company, and ask that you convey our heartfelt thanks.”

“Hi Mark it was great to meet you yesterday and discuss what you and all the lads have done for (my son) Mark, with the collection and the way you have helped him while he has been watching you work. His mum, and myself are overwhelmed by the kindness and care you have shown him and we thank you so much.”